The Voices of Educators and Elders: Examining a Supplemental Educational Program Through a Culturally Responsive Lens in Gullah Geechee and African American Communities
type: CreativeWork
description: African American students in South Carolina experience historical educational suppression (Anderson, 1988; Bowers et al., 2018; Fabel, 2019). This qualitative case study investigated how the use of African Diaspora and Gullah Geechee culture in supplemental education programs supported the academic success of youth. Using a culturally and historically responsive literacy and critical race theoretical framing (Gay, 2013; Hammond, 2015; Ladson-Billings, 2014; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1997; Mills, 1997; Muhammad, 2020), this study captured the voices and insights of community elders and program directors of The Village Group, that makes use of Gullah Geechee cultural, academic, and vocational practices to engage and educate youth in the Lowcountry. It used observations (Paley, 1986), interviews, a deep immersion into the culture (Bhattacharya, 2017; Creswell & Creswell, 2017), and photography of learning sessions. The study found that the program and community elders focused on resilience to maintain its community’s values through education, and when culturally sustaining pedagogy is implemented, students of the African Diaspora thrive in this scholastic environment. This is the power of collective action, a utilization of resistance to deficit mindsets and stereotypes of Black youth within restrictive social structures in the rural south. This resistance is restorative, stemming from years of knowing from elders’ personal experiences that African Diaspora students need to be seen as beautiful, accepted and loved as family, and heard as an equal participant in their education.
abstract: African American students in South Carolina experience historical educational suppression (Anderson, 1988; Bowers et al., 2018; Fabel, 2019). This qualitative case study investigated how the use of African Diaspora and Gullah Geechee culture in supplemental education programs supported the academic success of youth. Using a culturally and historically responsive literacy and critical race theoretical framing (Gay, 2013; Hammond, 2015; Ladson-Billings, 2014; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1997; Mills, 1997; Muhammad, 2020), this study captured the voices and insights of community elders and program directors of The Village Group, that makes use of Gullah Geechee cultural, academic, and vocational practices to engage and educate youth in the Lowcountry. It used observations (Paley, 1986), interviews, a deep immersion into the culture (Bhattacharya, 2017; Creswell & Creswell, 2017), and photography of learning sessions. The study found that the program and community elders focused on resilience to maintain its community’s values through education, and when culturally sustaining pedagogy is implemented, students of the African Diaspora thrive in this scholastic environment. This is the power of collective action, a utilization of resistance to deficit mindsets and stereotypes of Black youth within restrictive social structures in the rural south. This resistance is restorative, stemming from years of knowing from elders’ personal experiences that African Diaspora students need to be seen as beautiful, accepted and loved as family, and heard as an equal participant in their education.
author: Shelton, Kelly D
keywords: Social Justice in Education, Qualitative Research, Case Study, Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education, Curriculum and Instruction, Education, Educational Methods, Indigenous Education, Language and Literacy Education, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
date published: 2026-01-31T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:41:55Z
provider: University of San Diego
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of San Diego